IPDT 7

“Ah.”

Only after our eyes met did I come to my senses. I hurried to approach him, but the black-haired one started to back away. He was clearly trying to run away.

He’s going to fall off the cliff again if he keeps this up! In the end, I reached out my hand and cast a sleep spell on the black-haired one.

“Upsy-daisy.”

I quickly caught the body of the black-haired one as he fell into a slumber. The human, sleeping while leaning on my shoulder, was breathing very rapidly. There was not a single part of him, from his forehead to his body, that was not hot. He was like a ball of fire. He was definitely sick. I opened my lips and let out a loud cry.

“Flea, Fleabag!”

“Master!”

Fleabag burst open the bedroom door and entered. Fleabag, who had run in on all fours, so urgent was his arrival, looked all around me. He looked as if he was searching for a cockroach or something.

But this time, it was not something like that. I sat down on the floor with a thump and let the black-haired one lie with his head on my lap.

“Fleabag, the black-haired one is sick. His body is a complete ball of fire, what should I do?”

“…Excuse me?”

Fleabag’s voice was filled with bewilderment.

“If that is the case, can you not just heal him, Master? Did you not also work as a healer 8,000 years ago?”

“That was just me patching things up with magic. I don’t know how to fix humans. Only fellow mortals can fix humans. If I could heal them as I pleased, the causality of the world would have collapsed long ago.”

Dragons were creations of the gods, made to repeat the cyclical structure of ‘creation and extinction’. That was also why I was named the balancer of the world.

As such, although I was the strongest in the world, I could not use powers that would break the law of causality. Because I would have to pay a price if I did. That is why such an ironic situation has occurred. A situation where I cannot heal one sick human.

Upon closer inspection, there was even cold sweat on the black-haired one’s forehead. I swept back the black-haired one’s hair and placed my hand on his forehead. I could feel the intense heat under my cold hand.

Is he in a lot of pain? As I sat dejectedly, stroking the black-haired one’s forehead, Fleabag stood beside me. Then, he extended a cheese-colored fur-covered front paw to the human’s flushed cheek.

“Then… please excuse me.”

The round front paw carefully felt the black-haired one’s face. Fleabag, who had been cautiously taking his temperature, withdrew his paw as if he had finished the examination.

“Hmm, for now, it seems to be just a fever. Lowering the body’s temperature is something you can do too, Master, is it not?”

“What if he’s still sick even after I lower his body temperature?”

“Then we shall take him to a human healer.”

Come to think of it, he was right. I must have panicked without realizing it when I heard the black-haired one was sick. I scratched my cheek and placed my hand on the black-haired one’s forehead. As I channeled mana, a golden light emanated from my hand. Swoooosh… The black hair swayed with the movement of the mana.

Only after infusing enough mana did I remove my hand. The black-haired one, whose fever had subsided, looked much more comfortable. His ragged breathing had also returned to normal. I let out a deep sigh and poked the black-haired one’s forehead.

“Don’t be sick. You scared me.”

The sleeping human only let out even breaths, huff, huff. In any case, the black-haired one should be grateful to have such a capable and benevolent master.

“By the way, Fleabag, why do humans get sick? I’ve been feeding him well, teaching him words, and giving him attention, so why?”

After catching my breath, a question arose as to why the black-haired one was sick. Fleabag flinched and puffed up his tail, then let out a cough, ahem.

“In my opinion… I believe the problem may be that he has only been in the lair.”

“Why is being only in the lair a problem? You’re also only in the lair, Fleabag, but you don’t have any problems.”

“That is because I am your familiar, and a cat at that, am I not?”

“Why a cat?”

As I tilted my head, Fleabag added more.

“We cats feel secure as long as we are within our territory. In my case, I consider your lair as my territory, so I do not feel the need to go outside. However, other animals are different. Animals that are not cats sometimes need to take walks and get some sunlight.”

“Even though he went to my garden every single day?”

“Did the human go to your garden every… single day?”

Fleabag had a shocked expression on his face. And then, isn’t he muttering, ‘A place I’ve barely been to, a human…’ I narrowed my brows slightly. He was not answering the question I asked and was only talking about other things, I felt like I needed to give him a piece of my mind.

“Stop beating around the bush and tell me quickly, Fleabag.”

“…It could be that the mental world and the real world are perceived differently by humans. Your mental world is no different from reality, Master, but in any case, the garden is in your mind.”

“Hmm, is that so?”

A walk, a walk. Since it’s a walk with the black-haired one, should I go back to the human realm?

“By the way, Master, are you really planning to go on a walk with that human?”

“Yes, why?”

Fleabag had a worried look on his face. It was Fleabag himself who told me to go on a walk with the black-haired one, so why is he making such a face?

“That human has already had an experience where he almost died trying to escape, has he not? There is a cliff in front of the lair, so he cannot escape, but if you go out for a walk, there will be nothing to stop his feet.”

“Escape?”

I had not thought that the black-haired one would try to escape, but hearing Fleabag’s words, it seemed like a rather well-founded inference.

I looked down at the black-haired one with a troubled face. I wanted to ask, ‘Are you really going to run away?’, but he was sound asleep and in no state to answer.

I closed my eyes, cupping my chin. I considered all sorts of possibilities and mulled over whether to go for a walk or not. And the conclusion I came to after a long time was simple.

“I’m still going. If the black-haired one is sick because of the walk, it can’t be helped. I don’t want the black-haired one to be sick. And it’s okay if he runs away. I can just catch him and bring him back. Hmm, or maybe… should I let him experience the human realm a little harshly and then show him what a benevolent master I am?”

“That seems like a good method.”

Fleabag also agreed enthusiastically. As expected of a brilliant solution thought up by the great me. I watched the black-haired one with satisfaction. It was a lovely face, no matter how many times I looked at it.

“Don’t be sick anymore and wake up.”

Once the black-haired one’s condition gets a little better, we should go to the human realm together. Just imagining the black-haired one being happy about going for a walk made my mood improve as well.

I dismissed Fleabag and remained in the bedroom alone with the black-haired one. Humming a little tune, I touched the black-haired one’s hair. It was soft.

*

Fortunately, the black-haired one, whose fever had dropped, did not seem to be sick anymore. He did not vomit, nor did he groan in pain. I was just finally able to breathe a sigh of relief when a problem arose. The black-haired one, who had awoken from a long sleep, had become completely sulky.

“Hey, it’s okay, I said. I cleaned up everything you vomited. Look, it’s clean, isn’t it?”

“…”

The black-haired one turned his back on me. It seemed he was very embarrassed and ashamed of having vomited in front of me. I understood, but I was getting impatient. I was not the kind of master who would get angry just because a fragile human was a little sick. But why did the black-haired one not understand my true feelings?

“Huh? Look at me. It makes me sad when you don’t look at me.”

I moved on my knees beside the black-haired one, who had turned his head towards the wall, and tried to get into his line of sight. How long had I been doing that? The black-haired one, who had not met my eyes even once like a prim person, looked at me. I unknowingly smiled brightly, but then withdrew the smile in case he misunderstood it as a sneer. The black pupils followed the movement of my lips.

“Are you feeling a little better now?”

The black-haired one took his eyes off me without any particular words. But he was not burying his head in the wall like before. It was clear that his mood had improved considerably. I slowly crept closer to the black-haired one’s hand.

“Hey, if your mood has improved, can I touch your hand?”

“…”

If he did not like it, he would have snatched his hand away without a word, but since he did not, it seemed he did not dislike it. I carefully placed my hand on top of the back of his hand. The black-haired one’s hand was quite large, so my hand could not cover it completely.

Should I use magic to shrink it to the size of my hand? I entertained the petty thought for a moment before shaking my head. Wasn’t the original plan to cast a vitality spell on the black-haired one?

I pushed the neatly refined mana into the back of his hand that I was covering. At the cold sensation, the black-haired one turned his head to look at me. I feigned ignorance as if I had done nothing and shot up from my seat.

“You won’t be sick anymore. So don’t worry and let’s go out! Oh, right, I’ll leave the clothes here, so put them on and come out.”

I placed the carefully chosen clothes next to the black-haired one and left the bedroom. Fleabag, who had been pacing outside the door, spotted me and hurried over.

“Master, are you really sure it’s okay for me not to follow?”

“Fleabag, you don’t trust me? Are you worried that I might get bested by a human or something?”

“Th, that’s not what I mean! It is a misunderstanding, Master.”

Hmph, what misunderstanding. I ignored the flustered Fleabag and glanced at the bedroom door. I hoped the black-haired one would change his clothes quickly and come out. The clothes I picked would surely suit him well. And since the quality is different from those ragged clothes he never takes off, as if he has some attachment to them, the black-haired one will like it too.

“Master…”

“Shh!”

I shushed Fleabag and looked at the bedroom door. Click, soon the black-haired one, who had changed his clothes, came out. He had only changed his clothes, but his long legs and broad shoulders were much more visible. It seemed to suit him even better than I had thought.

“Wow.”

I did not even think to hide my exclamation of admiration and paced around the black-haired one. Perhaps it was awkward for him to have me circling around him, because he showed signs of trying to sneak away.

“Stay still, I said.”

Grab, without realizing it, I grabbed the black-haired one’s wrist without warning. The black-haired one’s hand flinched.

Oops. The human showed violent tendencies when his body was touched without permission. It was clear he disliked skinship. I knew that… I just forgot for a moment.

Since it’s my fault, I’ll have to let him bite one of my arms. If biting would relieve his anger, I could let him bite as much as he wanted. Because I am a benevolent master. But even after waiting for a long time, the black-haired one did not bare his teeth at me.

“…You’re not going to bite?”

As I tilted my head in wonder, the black-haired one sharply averted his gaze. And yet, he did not shake off my hand that was holding his wrist. Could it be that he has gotten a little used to me? Is that why he’s letting me touch him a little without saying anything?

Suddenly, my mood improved. It was already good, but it got even better. I casually held his hand instead of his wrist, and the black-haired one showed no particular reaction.

“You can’t let go of my hand, okay?”

I gave the black-haired one a reminder before using the teleportation magic. Because if he accidentally gets separated from me, he might end up somewhere strange. Of course, even if that happens, I would go look for him. I pulled the corners of my mouth into a smile to reassure the black-haired one who was staring at me intently.

“…”

The black-haired one held my hand back without answering. I squeezed his hand tighter and opened the gate to the human realm. We unhesitatingly jumped into the gate from which a huge wind pressure was flowing.

*

It was a clear sky I had not seen in a long time. My mental world was always a night with a sky full of stars, so it was clear that the black-haired one was also seeing a blue sky for the first time in a while. But why was it? The black-haired one’s mood did not seem very good.

“Stop right there!”

“No way! Why should I stop?”

Children who had shouted waaah ran by, holding tree branches. The black-haired one, who was not even part of their group, flinched his body. Is he thinking of running after those kids or something? To run away? I glanced up at the black-haired one.

However, far from running after them, the black-haired one’s face was hardening fearsomely. In the lair, his expression had been quite relaxed, but for a human to harden his expression in the human realm? Moreover, his continuous looking around as if wary of something and the clenching and unclenching of his fists seemed unusual. It did not seem like he was scoping out the atmosphere to run away.